Issue No. 230 | July 17, 2025 | Read Online

I care more about if a bird craps on someone than who’s leading on Thursday.
Kyle Porter (July 11, 2025)

Jason did me dirty with the above quote. I was using hyperbole to try and to make a point during one of our creative meetings, and he slid it into the newsletter while I wasn’t looking!

But it’s also true.

We’ve been here with Haotong Li before! Get back to me after 54 holes. And for the record, this — which I grabbed at around 6 a.m. — is the most first-round-of-the-Open-looking leaderboard I’ve ever seen.

I would also like to say that there is nothing like the stateside delirium of an Open Championship. That time from about 9-11 a.m. when you’re not sure which Jordan you love most and you begin wondering whether Bryson should just WD and try to film a video of this kayaker trying to catch his drives instead of letting Justin Leonard beat him by 15.

I’m not sure The Open is the best major, but it’s definitely the purest, weirdest and most golf-y of the four. There’s just nothing quite like it, and there’s certainly nothing quite like drinking it in on a couple hours of sleep with nothing by caffeine and the tantalizing possibility of Rory getting in the house near the lead getting you through the last four hours.

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OK, now onto the news.

15 Thoughts on Round 1 of The Open

1. Waking up to Phil — clearly playing for Grant Horvat’s honor and the GBI (Great Barracuda Injustice of 2025) — leading the event at 2 under was not something I envisioned when I fell asleep last night.

Phil rounds under par at the last 10 majors: 1
Phil rounds under par at this major on Thursday: 1

His only other under par round since finishing T2 at the 2023 Masters (which is still unfathomable) came at the 2023 U.S. Open where he shot 69-74 to miss the cut by one.

Is he going to win this week? No.
Is he even going to contend this week? Probably not.

But even the minuscule chance of him winning and grabbing a microphone on Sunday to “get a few things off my chest” has me borderline giddy.

2. The normal sport meter remained relatively low for the Thursday of an Open, but we did get a great one from Tommy Fleetwood on the delicious fifth hole.

I’ll try to explain.

For the first time in a long time (ever?) the R&A announced this week that it would not have volunteer bunker rakers on the golf course. A big normal sport announcement if there ever was one.

So Tommy hit his drive right on No. 5 and found a bunker short of the green that had apparently not been raked. Twitter sleuths (Soly and Bacon) discovered that it seemed like “the culprit of the unraked bunker on 5 [was] Sebastian Cave's caddie.”

What a sentence.

Anyway, Fleetwood’s position didn’t look that bad, though afterward he clarified that the ball was “in somebody's hitting mark that hadn't really been raked great.”

The whole thing was so strange and led to a rare Tommy outburst.

That brings us to Thursday and Fleetwood’s second shot in the bunker. When he arrived to the ball he was, ah… not pleased. “For f—‘s sake, man,” the usually mild-mannered Fleetwood said, which was caught on the World feed broadcast. “F—!”
Golf.com

Tommy was asked if he wants to see the bunker rakers back.

I'm not going to get angry about anyone where you don't know what's happening, but it wasn't great, and yeah, bunker rakers would have been nice.
Tommy Fleetwood

This is tantamount to the NBA getting rid of ball boys and telling assistant coaches to mop up pools of sweat because “that’s how every other league does it.” Except one of them forgets in a WCF game, and Steph slips and falls on a 3-point attempt.

Also, Billy knew.

3. My Scottie thought after he shot a “probably shouldn’t have been a 68” 68 that included two filthy birdies on the last three holes: I don’t understand why Scottie hasn’t been better at this tournament.

It’s clearly been his worst of the four majors, as outlined by Data Golf.

But this makes no sense because the tournament also accentuates one of his greatest skills, which is creativity and artistry. He’s a thinker, sure, but he’s a thoughtful painter more than anything. You don’t swing like this if you’re trying to reverse engineer a mathematical plan to win major championships.

Called slippin’ & slidin’ by the Open broadcast.

The shot he hit into 17 was a great example. On the broadcast, they were talking about how he was trying to hit a low kind of knockdown-y shot so the wind wouldn’t take the spin off of it. He executed it perfectly and almost made it!

This is what I would have expected from Scottie throughout his career, but for whatever reason it hasn’t popped here yet. Still, he was 120th off the tee on Thursday and posted a 68. Elite scorer. Like Durant in playoff games, he gets his 34 or 35 no matter the circumstances or situation.

Remains a problem for the field.

This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes …

A (literal) monk in the top 10.
Thoughts on why Rory is the new Spieth.
Justin Leonard, huh.
My new pick for the 153rd Open.

If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here.

If you are, keep reading!

Welcome to the members-only portion of today’s newsletter. I hope you both enjoy it and find it to be valuable to your golf and/or personal life.

4. Speaking of normal sport moments, there’s a monk currently tied for sixth. Sadom Kaewkanjana shot 68 and is one off the lead. He’s, like, an actual monk, which is wild.

It also led to maybe the best tweet I saw on Thursday, which was actually about Tyrrell Hatton dropping an F bomb on the back nine.

5. [Jason here] I can’t get enough of The Open Radio! The playful descriptions of the action, interviews with players, reading emails from listeners all over the world (they had a denture-maker on the show on Thursday!). I get lost in it from the time I wake up until they stop the broadcast.

It’s simple, old fashioned, and still thrilling.

I’m not alone in that thought. Brendan Quinn just published (as we’re writing this) a superb piece on what makes the format resonate so much.

There’s something about this broadcast. Those who’ve heard it know it. Some kind of fanciful combination of event (the Open, golf’s most time-honored tradition), stage (ancient links courses) and style (brisk, cheeky, vividly descriptive) that bridges present and past and maybe even makes you feel something.
Brendan Quinn, The Athletic

Here were some of my favorite absurdities that popped up during Round 1.

On Matt Jordan’s first 18 holes: “That was a real dandy of a round.”

On Shane Lowry: “He’s a little beauty.”

On Scottie’s tee shot on 16: “Oh, that’s all over the flag like a rash.”

On seeing Scottie’s swing for the first time: “He looked like an octopus falling out of a tree.”

I don’t even fully understand what doors have to do with it but I love when they say “Early doors.”

Early Doors Open Drawers

On Portrush: “Yesterday it was summer on 8 and winter on 13.”

On Hatton’s disposition: “Imagine Tyrrell opening Christmas presents.”

On a Tommy Fleetwood drive [after somebody screamed “light the candle!”]: “He’s not lighting any candles. That’s in the lap of the gods.”

On a Fleetwood chip: “Just a stab-driven-pinch in the bank.”

And my clubhouse leading quote about Scottie being a fierce competitor: “He’ll take the eyes out of your head and come back for your eyebrows.”

Enjoy The Open Radio!

6. Speaking of broadcasting, Graeme McDowell, what the hell? It’s unfortunate that he’s still playing full-time on LIV because he’s a very obvious answer to the very public problem NBC has had filling the Johnny Miller Chair over the last year.

If I’m honest, I don’t know what gets fed to which channels or streaming services, but I had him most of the day on the world feed and he was a revelation. Insightful without being too talkative. Funny without trying too hard. Relaxed without being too casual.

There was a moment when he was describing the big mound in front of the 5th green and explaining that if that’s your line (and it should be), then it also depends on which way it bounces off that mound — left is good, right is bad — and how that affects the way players play the hole. Just elite commentary about something I may not have even noticed if he didn’t point it out.

[Jason here] I just realized that, after an entire day locked in to The Open Radio, the voice I thought was from an Irish Viktor Hovland imitator was in fact from KP’s new favorite broadcaster Graeme McDowell.

Listen to this with your eyes closed and tell me you don’t hear it too.

7. If you only tune into The Open every year, then 1. I can’t blame you and 2. You may think the four best players of the last 40 years are Rory, Tiger and Jordan.

But not that Jordan.

The two best starts of Matt Jordan’s career have happened at the last two Open Championships, and it’s not even particularly close.

He’s T6 and one back of the lead once again. Afterwards, he was asked about the secret to links golf success. His answer made me swoon.

I think mainly so when people probably come over, is being able to understand how far to hit half shots, different flights, start lines … and then adapting that into then, Where am I pitching it? Because as I say, it's still firm.
I've been hitting 9 irons over 200 yards. I was hitting like an 8 iron on 17. Even though it went long, my purpose was to hit it 120. There's a lot of that.
It's not just kind of stand there and hit it. So being able to adapt and understand exactly how to hit those kinds of shots.
Matthew Jordan

Also, Jason was busy working up a Michael Jordan x Matthew Jordan vintage poster, but how could we top this masterpiece by Will?

8. Rahm was my pre-tournament pick, and I guess I’ll stick with it for the sake of sticking with it, though if you made me change the pick, I’m heading right for Harris English. He has that look in his eye. I legit think he’s going to win.

[Jason here] Does anyone else find it ironic that KP started this newsletter with “get back to me after 54 holes”?

Anyway, Rahm was solid and steady, which is exactly what he needed in Round 1. Especially considering what’s happened in three of the last four editions of this tournament for him.

He’s been average to below average in the first round of three of the last four Opens and still finished in the top seven in all of them. On Thursday, he gained 3.0 strokes on the field, which sets him up nicely for the next 54 holes (not a LIV joke).

He also had my favorite admission from Thursday after he chewed out a whistler (that’s right, a whistler) on the 11th hole following an errant tee shot.

I think I just used the moment to let out any tension I had in me. Really that's not … it is what it is. To be honest, it probably didn't affect as much as I made it sound like. It was a bad swing as well. Just a difficult hole.
Jon Rahm

10. One thing I absolutely loved on Thursday? Drop zones that look like mini jungles.

Hell — and I cannot possibly stress this enough — yeah.

The R&A’s quote on it to Dylan was even better!

"We don’t want hitting the ball towards a grandstand to be a bail out option and therefore, where possible, we ensure that the dropping zones are not overly generous."
R&A

Honestly, you want to put that drop zone on top of the grandstands, you be my guest, R&A. You want to put it inside the booth on 18? Do it.

You want to drop a couple of redwoods in there? Please.

Throw some kids in the drop zone and make guys hit around them? Sure.

You want to throw some turf on one of the kayaks in the Atlantic? By all means!

You cannot possibly get too weird with the drop zones at these events.

11. That first tee shot. Man.

There was K.J. Choi with a little 125 MPH ball speed.

Then there was Cam Smith and his 121 MPH ball speed. He called it, “Not the greatest start to a major championship I've ever had.”

ONeil Cruz can almost throw a baseball as hard as Smith hit his first golf ball on Thursday!

12. But before all of them, there was Padraig hitting the opening tee shot. It was awesome, and he surprised himself by getting emotional.

I got a little emotional when I was clapped on, and then I calmed down, and I was kind of fine when I was hitting it.
Q. When was the last time you had an emotional reaction like that on the golf course or felt maybe a tear welling up a little bit?
Usually when I'm watching a movie on an airplane. Does everybody not well up on airplanes? I think airplanes do that to me. Could be a comedy or something like that. It doesn't have to be that serious.
Q. It was special.
Yeah, it was very special, I've got to say. It's a great honor to do it, as I said. I really hate the idea of being ceremonial, but I was prepared to take that to do it because it was here. I'm glad I did.
Padraig Harrington

Darren Clarke, who hit the opening tee shot in 2019, was amused by it all.

It's one of those sorts of things where, if you haven't played a Ryder Cup, you don't understand what it's all about until you do something like that. It's a huge honor to hit the opening tee shot, especially for somebody like Padraig in Ireland.
As much as I told him he was going to feel nervous and feel a bit of pressure when he walked down the steps, he probably didn't believe me, knowing Padraig like I do.
Darren Clarke

Opens absolutely rule.

13. Justin Leonard …

Is 53 years old
Is coming in off a T22 at the U.S. Senior Open
And before that finished T12 at the Kaulig Companies Championship
Has not made a cut at a major since Spieth won his Masters
Has not made the cut at an Open since Phil won his at Muirfield
Shot 70 on Thursday
And beat Brooks by five, Wyndham by six, Reed by seven and Bryson by eight

Golf absolutely rules.

14. Rory. I thought we were getting it all on Thursday — a 65 and the lead — but I’m glad we didn’t. After the Masters, I’m not sure we were ready for four days of emotional tsunami. Better that we pace this out.

I have a take that’s been cooking for a bit: I think Rory actually is who we all kind of want Spieth to be. Obviously he has more talent and more gifts and is a better player. But in terms of the roller coaster. Spieth is a roller coaster, sure, but it hasn’t really been a fun one of late. Rory’s at least culminates in contention and sometimes wins.

Yeah, you might get two fairways hit in a round (two!), but you’re also getting some of the filthiest approaches out of gorse and off the side of these rollicking greens that you have ever seen. Yeah, you might get Mamdani levels of left off the tee, but you’re also getting threes from all over the yard like a Northern Irish Steph.

A 25-year-old Rory would have shot 75 on Thursday. A 30-year-old Rory would have shot 77. And somehow, he has transformed himself into a … a grinder? A scorer? A dog?

Here’s what I wrote after that Masters win.

Remember the Rory story when he was 27?
Nothing but a frontrunner. Not a gamer. No grit. Doesn’t have it when the chips are down. Great when the swing is flowing but as soon as you throw something at him — weather, competition, a firm, fast golf course — he’ll wilt.
That player feels like he existed 40 years ago. He feels like a completely different player. I don’t know if this particular one is necessarily smarter [gestures at 27 different shots from Sunday alone], but he’s undeniably more complete.
And he’s a dog now. A dog!
Normal Sport

That’s what this round on Thursday symbolized. A 70 in which he finished 130th off the tee? Are you serious? That’s a completely different player than the one who used to have to find a perfect wave to surf from beginning to end.

And while he might not win it on Sunday, I will say that everybody else in the field is hoping the driver doesn’t get hot.

15. The best tweets from Thursday.

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